U.S. Pat. No. 4,230,118 to Holman et al. has become a generally accepted medical instrument used to prick the finger to obtain a blood sample. A housing contains a spring loaded pivoting arm which has a cylindrical holder at its operating end. The holder holds a small needle which is housed in a plastic carrier. Pushing a trigger releases the arm holding the needle. The needle pricks the finger from which the blood sample is taken. Presently the user must grab the exposed sharp needle and its surrounding carrier and pull the used needle out of the holder before inserting a new needle. This procedure poses the risk of having the medical technician accidentally pricking his fingers on the used needle thus introducing the patient's blood directly into his own blood stream. This direct introduction of a patient's blood into the medical technician's blood poses serious health hazards to the medical technicians.